Patricia Hernandez

You might want to think twice before cheating in front of, if not being a jerk to fellow Counter-Strike: Global Offensive players now. For all you know, they might be an "investigator" capable of banning you.

According to the Counter-Strike blog, Valve is debuting something called "Overwatch." Although in beta right now, the idea is to let the community regulate itself by "allowing qualified and experienced members of the community...to review reports of disruptive behavior, determine if those reports are valid, and apply temporary bans if appropriate." People with that power are called investigators, and they can watch a suspect's replays to determine their fate. Multiple people will review the same suspect, it sounds like, and their judgments must collectively agree an offense has occurred.

Watch this video by WatchSpade if you'd like to see the program in action:

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How investigators are picked is unclear, although Valve notes that they look at competitive wins, account age, hours played, Skill Group, and low report counts. I'm guessing that means skilled players with a good reputation are more likely to be picked. Since the program is at an early stage at the moment, Valve says "the system will issue fewer cases and the results will be reviewed and analyzed before any bans go into effect."

It'll be curious, though, to see if a community-run regulation system results in a better playing environment in Counter-Strike than a purely developer-run one.